The present invention relates to magnetic resonance brain scanning, and more particularly, to automatic magnetic resonance brain scan planning.
Magnetic Resonance (MR) is a well known technique for imaging internal organs of a patient. MR scanners are typically capable of generating cross-sectional images in any plane of the body, including oblique planes. Accordingly, the MR volume data resulting from MR scans can have many possible orientations. In MR brain scanning, planning is needed in order to determine the orientation and position of the scanning volumes. In a typical MR brain scan process, an MR operator first acquires scout/localizer images by a short time sequence. The operator then manually plans a 3D diagnostic, which typically take a longer time, scan from the localizer images. The operator can plan other diagnostic scans from available images using anatomic landmarks. However, different hospitals, departments, and operators many use different anatomic landmarks to plan the scanning. Even when the same anatomic landmarks are used, the scanning can be executed inconsistently, due to inter- or intra-operator variation. This can cause variations in the position and orientation of various MR brain scans, which can lead to problems with diagnosis when using MR brain images generated from MR brain scans. Thus, automated and consistent MR scan planning is desirable in clinical MR scanning applications.
Various methods have been proposed for automating the MR brain scanning process. However, such methods require a 3D scout scan for registration. This type of 3D scout imaging is only used for the planning algorithm, not for diagnostic purposes. During the planning of the MR brain scan, a patient must lie absolutely still in a confined space of the MR scanning machine. This may be uncomfortable or unnerving for the patient. Accordingly, it is desirable to make to planning process as fast as possible. Since an extra non-diagnostic 3D scan is time-consuming, methods requiring a 3D scout image may be undesirable in clinical MR scanning applications.